FCC Soothes Net Neutrality Opponents, but Issues Remain

Reaction to the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality proposal rolled in all day Thursday, and while the usual suspects were elated, the chairman's effort to make the process more transparent and collaborative also appears to have allayed fears among major critics like AT&T.

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Google, which joined with Verizon Wireless chief executive Lowell McAdam Wednesday night to highlight to two companies' common ground on the issue, again reiterated its support.

"We fully support the adoption of 'rules of the road' to ensure that the broadband on-ramps to the Net remain open and robust," Richard Whitt, Washington telecom and media counsel for Google, wrote in a blog post.

"Some detractors unfortunately have gone so far as to work behind the scenes to try to derail the start of an open and transparent process at the commission. But as Google chief executive Eric Schmidt and Verizon Wireless chief executive Lowell McAdam showed in last evening's joint blog post, stakeholders can work together with mutual respect to find common ground, even as we acknowledge and defend important policy differences," Whitt said.

The Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), of which Google is a member, applauded Verizon Wireless for joining forces with Google, but was critical of those who opposed the rules.

"We applaud Verizon's progressive attempts to find common ground with other sectors of the Internet ecosystem," said Ed Black, president and chief executive of CCIA, in a statement. "However, these bright spots have been overshadowed in recent weeks by the full force of a huge corporate lobbying machine that has overstepped the bounds of decency and fairness with its blatant attempts to intimidate a new agency head."

"We hope the commission's focus today on collegiality and rigorous fact-based decision making will serve as a new model for more constructive debate and resolution of critical questions involving the future of Internet access and communications in America," Black said.

Interest groups who have long supported net neutrality action had similar sentiments.

"A well-crafted net neutrality rule can ensure that the open Internet continues to serve as a great force for economic innovation and democratic participation for all Americans," said Ben Scott, policy director of Free Press, which first filed the complaint about Comcast with the FCC.

Public Knowledge also praised the effort, but raised issues surrounding copyright.

"We are concerned about how the Commission addresses the issues surrounding copyright enforcement," said Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder. "In particular, we do not believe copyright holders have the right to demand filtering of everyone's network traffic, which would violate privacy and free speech rights of everyone online. We are also concerned about the definition and operation of managed services. It would be unfortunate if the details of the rules undermined the openness this proceeding promises."

VoIP providers have paid close attention to the proceedings. Skype issued its support Thursday and Vonage said the rules are "an important first step in spurring new service and application development and preserving consumer choice."

Among those groups that flat-out objected to the FCC's plans were the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) and the Free State Foundation (FSF).

"At the FCC meeting, there was absolutely no evidence presented by the FCC's staff of any market failure or pattern of marketplace abuses," said Randolph May, president of FSF. "It is risky business for regulators to mess with a technologically dynamic environment that is working well for American consumers and the economy."

"Federal agencies should not dictate business models or discriminate against infrastructure providers," said Wayne Crews, CEI vice president for policy.

The Progress & Freedom Foundation, meanwhile, said that there was "much to commend" about the FCC proposal, but Barbara Esbin, a senior fellow at PFF, said she remained "concerned, however, that the FCC is poised to take intrusive action into a well-functioning Internet ecosystem without either the demonstrated need or clear legal authority to do so."

Chloe Albanesius has been with PCMag.com since April 2007, most recently as Executive Editor for News and Features. Prior to that, she worked for a year covering financial IT on Wall Street for Incisive Media. From 2002 to 2005, Chloe covered technology policy for The National Journal's Technology Daily in Washington, DC. She has held internships at NBC's Meet the Press, washingtonpost.com, the Tate Gallery press office in London, Roll Call, and Congressional Quarterly. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in journalism from American University...
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Mark Hachman Mark joined ExtremeTech in 2001 as the news editor, after rival CMP/United Media decided at the time that online news did not make sense in the new millennium.
Mark stumbled into his career after discovering that writing the great American novel did not pay a monthly salary, and that his other possible career choice, physics, required a degree of mathematical prowess that he sorely lacked.
Mark talked his way into a freelance assignment at CMP’s Electronic Buyers’ News, in 1995, where he wrote the...
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